


What Lies Beyond the Stars

by clare_de_luna



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: SHEITH - Freeform, broganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 01:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15697485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clare_de_luna/pseuds/clare_de_luna
Summary: Keith is feeling upset about his father's death, so Shiro offers his support.





	What Lies Beyond the Stars

Keith lost the one person with a connection to his past. His father had been the only constant in his childhood. He was left with no relations--not an aunt or an uncle, or distant relative--but truly left all alone.

  
He was given a leave of absence to go home for the funeral and for dealing with his grief. He returned afterwards, but how was he supposed to continue on if it was all for nothing? The burning desire to explore, to take risks, disappeared. Another month passed, more grades tanked. His motivation was a drought with no promise of rain. He was put on academic probation. His saving grace was whatever his potential was as a pilot. He could still fly perfectly fine, if not more recklessly.

  
His instructors eventually started to chide him for his lack of regard for consequences. More than usual.

  
But he experienced the world differently now. He could start to see ways that death would come to him. He could see how he could die in a million different ways. Death was not a fantasy anymore, like his classmates naively believed. He knew it was real.

  
One night, he slipped past the security and took his hover bike to the canyon. It was quiet, and he didn't think the staff would not find him for at least a couple hours.

  
He propped himself on a rock, and took out his knife. He gazed at it for a moment. Below the blade was a little glowing mark that made the knife otherworldly. He threw it at the canyon wall, in the soft dirt. He would stalk back and forth throwing the knife until it hit his target.

  
He never knew _why_ his mother had left the knife. Some of the other Garrison kids brought their own family heirlooms--trinkets, mostly, pictures, or statuettes--nothing that was remotely like his knife. He could remember impressions, small fragments of how he felt when she was around, and the anguishing feeling of sadness after she left. Even if he never fully recalled her face. She was pieced together by stories his father had said in passing.

  
His father had promised him that one day he would explain why his mother left, why she had left him the knife, but now he couldn't do that. All his father's secrets were buried with him in the earth.

  
With each hit, Keith felt himself sliding into some dark place, like he was chipping away at his own soul with the knife.

  
There was a dull hum of a hover bike at the wall of the canyon. Keith ignored it. If whoever it was wanted to talk, they would come down to him. He was beyond caring. There was a slight shuffling of earth, and Keith spun to look at a tall figure walking down the side of the canyon.

  
"I don't need anyone to pity me," Keith said shortly. He didn't even see who it was.

  
"I'm not here to pity you," Shiro said. "I wanted to ask you to come with me on a mission."

  
He stood by the edge of the canyon wall.

  
"Are you serious?" Keith questioned dubiously. "Now?"

  
"Yes," Shiro said. "I'm serious. I've cleared it with the Garrison, all you have to do is sit tight."

  
Keith didn't know why he followed Shiro--maybe it was because he didn't have anywhere else to go. They mounted the hover bikes and headed towards the garrison. As Shiro stopped in front of the plane hanger, he knew something was up, confirming his suspicions. There was a few staff milling about the hanger, but it wasn't busy enough for there to be another mission.

  
"Where are you going?" Keith asked.

  
"You'll see," Shiro said elusively. He led him to the sleek, black fighter jet--one that only the more experienced pilots, like Shiro, flew. It had a simple design, almost like a paper airplane. The cockpit was small, but encased with glass all around it. It was an old model, but oddly beautiful.

  
Shiro reached to a locker beside the jet. "You'll need one of these. It gets cold up there."

  
He handed him an aviator jacket lined with sheepskin. Keith slid it on, almost immediately feeling its warmth. Shiro slipped on an identical jacket.

  
Shiro squeezed through the door frame and sat in the pilot's seat. Keith took the seat behind him. It was a cramped space, but had an impressive amount of controls compared to the tiny planes he flew before. Shiro switched on the interface, waiting for the system to light up before coaxing the plane out of the hanger to the runway. He bantered with the control tower before speeding off.

  
Despite all his experience with planes, Keith was surprised by the speed. He felt that weightless feeling as the plane lifted off the ground. This wasn't a simulator. They were airborn, and Keith felt like a child again, in complete wonder over the idea of flight.

  
Keith watched through the wide glass the shadowy outline of the Garrison slid away from view. The plane's wings were no more than a shadow in the night. The nearby city glittered with tiny golden lights, tiny fireflies shining in the darkness.

  
A minute or two passed, and they hit the moonlit clouds.

  
The plane breached into the open night where stars freckled the sky. It was so clear. Keith had never seen so many stars, not even in the desert. A part of him was hesitant to appreciate the beauty when he was so upset, but he couldn't argue with the stars.

  
"So...about this mission," Keith said.

  
"I'm showing you why you're here," Shiro said. "This is why you came to the garrison. You came here to become a pilot. Someday, if you keep training, you can be. Things are going to get better. You are going to get better. It doesn't have to be now. It doesn't have to be tomorrow. You don't have to feel guilty about feeling better. It'll look up."

  
"Easy to say," Keith said.

  
"It will look up," Shiro stated. "It always will even if we can't see that. You can grieve, but life also continues on. We continue on."

  
Keith had felt so alone in the last couple months. Other than his father, he never had a person he felt he could put his trust in. He never had many friends to speak with growing up. He didn't want to reach out to them, and no one ever seemed to reach out to him. But Shiro did. Shiro always came back even if Keith was mean or angry. He never abandoned him. Keith couldn't ask for a better friend.

  
Keith looked up at the oceanic depths of the stars above them. No matter what Keith said about not appreciating their beauty before, he felt as though the stars were calling for him. He had lost sight of his future this time. Now, he could see it shining in front of his eyes. He felt hopeful.

  
After months of not being able to see the stars for what they were, Keith finally believed him.

**Author's Note:**

> This could be either romantic or platonic. Love is love.


End file.
